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Rules Q&A » Post: Dispersal (Half of Discovery // Dispersal) and Transformed Lands from Ixalan.

Dispersal (Half of Discovery // Dispersal) and Transformed Lands from Ixalan.

Jan. 17, 2019 03:26:40 AM [Original Post]

Fernando León
Judge (Uncertified), Scorekeeper

Hispanic America - North

Dispersal (Half of Discovery // Dispersal) and Transformed Lands from Ixalan.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for an Official Answer:

This question came up in a regional forum. It was apparently already answered by the Cranial Insertion website but some people were very confused because a player contacted the Wizard's Customer Service Department and they gave a totally different answer and this is to a degree backed up in the Oracle rulings. Also it appears that in Magic Arena it works just as the ruling that was given by Cranial Insertion.

Anita has a Jadelight Ranger (cmc 3) and a Gold-Forged Garrison (while it's a land it has cmc 4) on the Battlefield. Nancy casts Dispersal. Does she have to return Jadelight Ranger to her hand and discard a card?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Jan. 17, 2019 03:52:49 AM [Marked as Accepted Answer]

Callum Milne
Forum Moderator
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Western Provinces

Dispersal (Half of Discovery // Dispersal) and Transformed Lands from Ixalan.

The answer given in Cranial Insertion (here, for anyone who might yet be unfamiliar with this excellent resource) is correct: Anita doesn't return anything to her hand, but will discard a card.

Dispersal instructs Anita to return “a nonland permanent they control with the highest converted mana cost among permanents they control” to hand, but Gold-Forge Garrison means the highest converted mana cost among Anita's permanents is 4, but it's a land, so it can't be returned, and Anita doesn't control any non-land permanents with converted mana cost 4, so nothing else can be returned either.


In general, contacting Wizards Customer Service for answers to anything beyond the simplest rules questions has historically been unreliable at best–the folks there are trained in customer service, not game rules, so when they answer a rules question it's often only as reliable as the personal rules savviness of whichever CS rep happened to be the one to answer that specific email.

Edited Callum Milne (Jan. 17, 2019 03:54:07 AM)

Jan. 17, 2019 04:06:56 AM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Dispersal (Half of Discovery // Dispersal) and Transformed Lands from Ixalan.

Fun fact: Callum (above) and Nathan Long are the NetReps (i.e., ‘O’fficial sources) for rules answers in these forums. They are also two of the authors for Cranial Insertion, along with Carsten Haase and Charlotte Sable; together, these four (hard-working and diligent) judges continue the tradition of excellence we've come to expect from Cranial Insertion.

While Cranial Insertion has never been designated as an ‘O’fficial source, they remain a reliable and accurate source of excellent answers.

d:^D

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